Residents start returning to Donald highrise after Wednesday fire

Samira Umba waits in the lobby to move her belongings back in her apartment at 251 Donald St. on Dec. 15, 2018. A fire forced the evacuation of about 220 residents on Dec. 12 and residents have been living in hotels and with residents. Joanne Laucius / Postmedia

Residents started returning to their apartments in a highrise building at 251 Donald St. on Saturday, three days after a three-alarm fire forced a mass evacuation.

Residents received notice on Saturday morning that those living in apartments on floors 5 through 21 could start moving back again. The move was organized in stages in an effort to prevent a bottleneck in the building’s lobby, while tenants were waiting to use the elevator.

“We’re very, very happy to be back,” Cathy Mugo said. “But there’s still the smell.”

It’s still unclear when residents from the lower floors of the building, where most of the damage occurred, will return. Those floors have 33 units, mostly one-bedroom apartments, leaving an estimated 35 people still displaced.

Ottawa Community Housing’s rehousing staff are providing support and looking at various longer-term housing options, a spokeswoman for the municipal social housing agency said.

“We’re looking for rehousing for everyone,” she said. “No one will be out on the street.”

Samira Umba waits in the lobby to move back into her apartment at 251 Donald St. on Saturday.Joanne Laucius /
Postmedia

The fire in the building just east of the Vanier Parkway erupted early Wednesday on the north side of the building’s second floor. Many tenants retreated from their smoky apartments and hallways to balconies to await rescue.

Paramedics transported eight people to hospital for assessment of smoke inhalation, including a police officer who was helping residents escape the fire. Paramedics said a ninth person’s life was likely saved when firefighters discovered her in a diabetic coma during a door-to-door search.

Damage has been estimated at $1.5 million. Investigators are examining an electrical system as the potential cause of the fire.

Firefighters at the scene at 251 Donald St. on the morning of Dec. 12.Jean Levac /
Postmedia News

A total of 231 people lived in the building. Tenants in the building are required to have insurance when they move in, but sometimes it lapse. Tenants with insurance would qualify for hotel rooms following the fire, while those with no other place to go were offered emergency accommodations through the City of Ottawa.

Mugo and her two daughters have been staying in a Kanata hotel. They had to leave almost all of their belongings in their 18th-floor apartment, but the Red Cross pitched in with clothing to tide them over until they could return home.

“We couldn’t take anything,” said Mugo’s daughter, Samira Umba. “It was good. They gave us everything we needed.”

While many of the building residents with pets escaped with their animals, firefighters who found pets in apartments while searching the building brought those animals to the Ottawa Humane Society, which waived its per diem charge, the Ottawa Community Housing spokeswoman said.

Ras Karl said his lovebirds and budgies woke him up on the morning of the fire. He said he had to retreat to his balcony on the 16th floor because he had trouble breathing.

“All of the people in the building were lucky they survived,” Karl said. “I have to get out of this building. I don’t think it’s safe.”

Sharyn Mullen, a sixth floor resident, said she was asleep when the fire broke out. “I didn’t even hear the fire alarm until a firefighter knocked on my door,” she said.

Mullen has been living with her sister and says Ottawa Community Housing has done a good job of keeping residents informed.

Diane Crete, who has a bad back, had moved to a recliner chair on the night of the fire to ease the pain, but she had to slide out of that chair because of the fire.

“I’m glad to be back,” she said. “I miss my bed. I haven’t slept in three days.”

Displaced tenants still in need of help are asked to call the Ottawa Community Housing call centre 613-731-1182.

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Eleven items were on the agenda when Eugene Melnyk and John Ruddy met with Mayor Jim Watson and senior city staff in the mayor’s boardroom last August, including “evidence of partnership” and “plans for Kanata.